Girl shares her love of dance with others
CRANBERRY TWP — When Markie Russell was 7 years old, she told her parents that she wanted to donate her old dance shoes to less fortunate children.
“The thought of kids who don’t have enough money to dance bothered me,” she said.
This led to a conversation in their family about how children can benefit from participating in dance or musical theater programs, but not all families can afford them.
“We had a stack of old dance shoes and we decided we should give them all away and it sparked this whole conversation about how that would be helpful to families,” said her mother, Bridget Russell.
The Russell family last year set up the Markie’s Mission. It is a nonprofit organization whose purpose will be to grant scholarships to children between the ages of 2 and 18 in the Pittsburgh area to pay for dance or musical theater classes or needed clothing.
Markie, 9, this year is a fourth grade student at St. Killian Parish School. She lives in Cranberry Township with her parents and two brothers.
Starting a scholarship program has not been Markie’s only accomplishment. She was crowned National American Miss Pennsylvania Junior Pre-Teen at the pageant held Aug. 13 in Harrisburg.
The pageant focuses on natural beauty, with contestants participating in community service, doing public speaking and interviews with the judges. They also must do a walk in a formal dress, but girls younger than 12 are not permitted to wear makeup.
Of the $1,000 prize money from the Pennsylvania pageant, she donated half to Markie’s Mission and she will also donate money if she places in the national contest.
It was her third year competing in the pageant and she won out of a pool of 112 contestants in her age group.
She will compete in the national pageant during the week of Thanksgiving at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.
Markie said she has always been interested in helping the community.
When she was younger she had a birthday party where she asked for guests to make donations to charity instead of bringing gifts.
She has been participating in dance for most of her life and also does gymnastics, karate and musical theater. Dance especially has helped make her confident and able to do things like compete in pageants.
“I can just see her physical health and her confidence and it all came from dance starting when she was around 2,” Bridget Russell said.
Markie’s Mission is seeking applicants now for scholarships. It will consider awards of up to $1,000 for families that qualify. The intent is to give them enough money to cover the costs of one year of dance or musical theater lessons, Russell said.
To apply for a scholarship or learn more about the organization, send an e-mail to markiesmission@gmail.com.
